Latest / The Daily Writer / Pastor John Stange on Building, Growing, and Monetizing Your Online Platform

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Pastor John Stange on Building, Growing, and Monetizing Your Online Platform · The Daily Writer

0:06
SPEAKER_02: Welcome to the Daily Rider Podcast, where we bring you tips and inspiration each day to help you build habits for writing success.
0:14
SPEAKER_02: For more resources, including your free Daily Rider Starter Kit, visit DailyRiderLife.com.
0:22
SPEAKER_02: If you've been listening to the Daily Rider Podcast any length of time, you know that around here we don't just emphasize writing and words.
0:30
SPEAKER_02: We also spend a lot of time talking about other activities that can help you build a business around your writing.
0:37
SPEAKER_02: Now, even if you don't aspire to create a business, the fact remains that if you're writing books and selling them, you do in fact have a business.
0:46
SPEAKER_02: So I want you to not only write great books, but also to be successful in marketing them and monetizing your message and content in other ways.
0:55
SPEAKER_02: And that's why I'm really excited to bring you this conversation with my good friend Pastor John Stongy.
1:01
SPEAKER_02: John is the founder of desireJesus.com and he's also the lead pastor of Core Creek Community Church in Langhorn, Pennsylvania.
1:10
SPEAKER_02: John is an avid podcaster and he has three shows the chapter a day audio bible, daily devotions with Pastor John, and dwell on these things.
1:19
SPEAKER_02: John's also a prolific author, and he's written dozens of books, most of which are focused on spiritual growth, leadership, marriage, and practical aspects of following Jesus.
1:31
SPEAKER_02: Now, as if that weren't enough, you probably get the sense John is a very productive and busy guy, and he is.
1:36
SPEAKER_02: John is also the founder of Platform Launchers, which is an online membership group devoted to helping you launch and monetize your online platform.
1:45
SPEAKER_02: I've been a member of Platform Launchers for a couple of years, and I can tell you that it's a fantastic group where you can learn essential business skills from John and the other members there.
1:55
SPEAKER_02: So in today's conversation, we talk about one of John's newest books, which is Build, Grow, and Monetize Your Online Platform, the proven formula for sharing your message, expanding your audience, and earning your income online.
2:09
SPEAKER_02: So in this conversation, John shares how to get started in building your online platform, going ahead and not waiting for permission, how to use one weekly piece of content in several ways, why you should write short books, and several other topics that I know are going to be really, really interesting to you because you're a writer who doesn't just want to write, you also probably want to create some income from your content and writing.
2:33
SPEAKER_02: And if that describes you, you're really gonna love this conversation.
2:37
SPEAKER_02: Now, before we get to the interview with John, I want to encourage you to go ahead and grab a copy of John's book and also make sure to check out Platform Launchers.
2:45
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna link to that in the show notes.
2:47
SPEAKER_02: And by the way, this is an affiliate link for the Platform Launchers group.
2:51
SPEAKER_02: So when you sign up, I receive a small percentage of your membership fee at no extra cost to you.
2:57
SPEAKER_02: And just kind of as a side note, I only promote things here on the show that I personally use and believe in.
3:03
SPEAKER_02: So every time that you hear me talk about a sponsor or give an affiliate link, this is something that I am personally involved in.
3:11
SPEAKER_02: It's not just something I'm throwing in here to the podcast because I'm getting an affiliate commission or because they're a sponsor and they're paying to be advertised and that sort of a thing.
3:20
SPEAKER_02: I don't I don't really do business that way.
3:21
SPEAKER_02: I only promote things that I personally use and believe in, things that I have some kind of personal experience with.
3:27
SPEAKER_02: So whenever you hear me promote people here on the show or promote products or services or whatnot, know that this is something I personally really believe in.
3:37
SPEAKER_02: And platform launchers is indeed one of those things.
3:39
SPEAKER_02: In fact, you've heard me talk about the Daily Writer Club here on the show probably many times.
3:44
SPEAKER_02: And currently I am telling people that I think it's good for them to actually be part of two communities.
3:50
SPEAKER_02: One community that's writing focused and another community that's business focused.
3:54
SPEAKER_02: Now, John is a wonderful writer, but the uh the emphasis of his platform launchers group is really focused on helping you build and monetize your online platform.
4:04
SPEAKER_02: I encourage you to be part of both groups.
4:06
SPEAKER_02: Both groups are really, really great.
4:08
SPEAKER_02: Obviously, I think the Daily Writer Club is great, or else I wouldn't be talking about it.
4:12
SPEAKER_02: But I encourage you to check out platform launchers as well.
4:15
SPEAKER_02: The groups are actually structured in a very similar way, and I think they're highly complimentary, and uh both groups can really, really be helpful to you.
4:22
SPEAKER_02: But again, make sure and check out John's book and his platform launchers group.
4:26
SPEAKER_02: All right, enough from me.
4:27
SPEAKER_02: Let's get to the conversation and to the real meat of this episode, which is my good friend John Stangy.
4:32
SPEAKER_02: So here's my conversation with him.
4:34
SPEAKER_02: Hope you enjoy it.
4:36
SPEAKER_02: John, so excited to have you back on the Daily Writer Podcast.
4:39
SPEAKER_02: I think this is your second or third or 18th appearance, something like that.
4:43
SPEAKER_02: I've kind of lost count.
4:44
SPEAKER_02: But uh at any rate, glad to have you here.
4:45
SPEAKER_02: Thanks for joining us.
4:47
SPEAKER_02: Well, it's great to be here.
4:48
SPEAKER_02: Thanks for the invitation.
4:50
SPEAKER_02: So I appreciate you you uh releasing a couple of books this year.
4:54
SPEAKER_02: I mean, you're releasing basically one book a month this year, more or less.
4:57
SPEAKER_02: And uh your podcast book just came out, but we're gonna talk about a recent one Build, Grow, and Monetize Your Online Platform, which I happen to have a copy of.
5:05
SPEAKER_02: Awesome.
5:06
SPEAKER_02: And I'm glad you're putting your knowledge into these books because it saves me from having to email you all the time and ask you all these innate questions because I've been doing online business stuff a while too, but but you've been at this really longer than I have.
5:18
SPEAKER_02: And I love just kind of digging into your knowledge of things because your knowledge is not only really deep, it's also really wide across a variety of things.
5:28
SPEAKER_02: And I'd I love the fact that you're taking the time and effort to pour your knowledge into these.
5:32
SPEAKER_02: So we're gonna dive into this book a little bit if that's cool.
5:34
SPEAKER_02: Sounds good to me.
5:36
SPEAKER_02: Looking forward to it.
5:37
SPEAKER_02: So I think the the question where I would like to start out with is why should somebody build, grow, and monetize a platform?
5:45
SPEAKER_02: People who are listening, they know what an online platform is.
5:48
SPEAKER_02: But why would somebody want to do this?
5:50
SPEAKER_02: What are what are the reasons for somebody to take the time and emotional energy to build an online platform as opposed to just kind of doing whatever they're currently doing?
6:00
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I kind of approached this whole thing from that set of questions as well, too, because initially I just considered myself a content creator.
6:09
SPEAKER_00: I wasn't interested in marketing.
6:11
SPEAKER_00: I actually thought marketing was a little bit silly and uh and I just wasn't highly focused on it.
6:16
SPEAKER_00: And so uh I didn't do it for a long time.
6:18
SPEAKER_00: I just wrote books and recorded podcasts, and then somewhere along the way, I thought these things need to connect to each other a little bit better than they do because I could use the podcasts to promote the books, and I could use the books to promote the podcasts.
6:31
SPEAKER_00: They could be friends, they don't have to be separate things that I'm doing just in this world of content creation.
6:37
SPEAKER_00: So it dawned on me that I could marry the two of them under the umbrella of a website.
6:42
SPEAKER_00: So I did that, and I thought, well, if I'm gonna do a website, I don't want it to just be a static business card.
6:47
SPEAKER_00: I want it to be something where people can read fresh content.
6:51
SPEAKER_00: So I wanted to have a blog.
6:52
SPEAKER_00: Then I noticed that the blog posts were getting indexed in search engines, and that was helping me sell more books and helping me generate more uh listeners to my podcasts.
7:02
SPEAKER_00: And without intentionally doing it, I had developed a platform and I realized oh, there's a lot of benefit to this because it's making the uh the ability for uh me to promote something much, much easier.
7:16
SPEAKER_00: And it's making it way easier for people to find my stuff.
7:20
SPEAKER_00: Because instead of just having a whole bunch of disjointed things here and there, I have a platform and it was giving me opportunities to speak more and opportunities to share more, and frankly, more opportunities to produce additional content.
7:33
SPEAKER_00: So if you consider yourself a content creator, which I consider myself a content creator, and I know you do personally as well, it gives you a way to actually create more content and get that content into the hands of more people because you now have multiple avenues where you could very easily let people know that the content exists.
7:51
SPEAKER_00: So that's why I encourage people to develop a platform.
7:54
SPEAKER_00: Uh, it it's not as hard as people think that it is, and you might actually really enjoy it.
7:59
SPEAKER_00: I certainly enjoy it.
8:01
SPEAKER_02: So, how do you what do you recommend for people who are torn between different ideas that they have?
8:08
SPEAKER_02: For example, okay, you have your quote unquote day job, you've been a pastor for a long time.
8:13
SPEAKER_02: So, I mean, is that fair to say that's your quote unquote day job?
8:17
SPEAKER_02: Sure.
8:17
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.
8:18
SPEAKER_02: So then you have all these things you do on the side, including books and podcasts and other things, courses.
8:24
SPEAKER_02: Then you have something out kind of outside of the church slash Bible realm, which is platform launchers, and we'll get into that a little bit later on.
8:33
SPEAKER_02: Any thoughts for people who are wrestling between like two different things?
8:37
SPEAKER_02: Maybe they want to build this thing or a platform around this idea, but they have this other thing that's not really connected, but they feel drawn to that too.
8:44
SPEAKER_02: And I will put that out there saying that I always feel this conflict because I do ghostwriting for clients, but then I have this other thing called the Daily Rider, which this podcast that people are listening to right now is part of that.
8:56
SPEAKER_02: The two things are not really connected.
8:58
SPEAKER_02: So, any thoughts for people who can't decide between two different things that they're they want to build a platform around?
9:05
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I think a lot of times people overthink this because there's probably a primary thing that people come to you for.
9:14
SPEAKER_00: There's probably something that if uh if people are thinking, you know, I need an answer to this particular question, who's the go-to person for this subject?
9:22
SPEAKER_00: There's probably certain things that that to some people you are the go-to person.
9:26
SPEAKER_00: And another way that that uh we could even kind of help people decide what to do.
9:31
SPEAKER_00: I like to ask people this question what could you talk about for 30 minutes with no prep whatsoever and never lose enthusiasm at any point in the conversation?
9:41
SPEAKER_00: And you could just go and go and go, and it would be interesting to you and hopefully interesting to the people that are listening.
9:48
SPEAKER_00: If you could do that, those are probably the subjects that you ought to be building a platform around.
9:54
SPEAKER_00: Now, I'll also say this I don't think that people need to only have one platform, but I do think you should start with one platform, give that time to mature before attempting to build another platform.
10:05
SPEAKER_00: I have multiple platforms and I have multiple things that I'm personally involved in, and that works well for my personality.
10:12
SPEAKER_00: Not everybody's wired like I am.
10:14
SPEAKER_00: And so I would encourage people uh to start in one spot.
10:17
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, when I was starting mine, I didn't start them all at the same time.
10:19
SPEAKER_00: I started one, gave it plenty of time, years to mature before I decided to start another one.
10:26
SPEAKER_00: And um, and that's what I'd encourage people to do.
10:28
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to pick only one, but I would can I would encourage you to give one a shot and let it mature one at a time before developing or adding a second one.
10:38
SPEAKER_02: Some of us get a little bit impatient, don't we?
10:40
SPEAKER_02: Because we try something for six months or a year and we think, oh, this isn't catching on or it's not successful.
10:46
SPEAKER_02: And we think it's a failure and we quit when in reality we had a great idea, we just didn't give it enough time to develop.
10:53
SPEAKER_00: Right.
10:54
SPEAKER_00: And a lot of times I think things take at least three years to develop true momentum.
10:59
SPEAKER_00: Uh, you, you know, you'll you'll experience incremental success along the way that'll keep you motivated.
11:05
SPEAKER_00: But in the early years, things are very much dependent on you to be the one pushing it.
11:10
SPEAKER_00: And I think a lot of times once you get past year three, you start developing uh a whole series of help, other other sources that are helping to promote what you're doing.
11:20
SPEAKER_02: That's really good.
11:20
SPEAKER_02: I love that insight.
11:21
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes we just quit too soon.
11:24
SPEAKER_01: I agree.
11:25
SPEAKER_02: So let's dig into some topics of specific chapters from your book, Build, Grow, and Monetize Your Online Platform.
11:33
SPEAKER_02: Um, really all the chapters in this book are so good.
11:37
SPEAKER_02: I really had a hard time picking, you know, six or seven of these to dive into a little bit.
11:41
SPEAKER_02: But let's start here.
11:42
SPEAKER_02: Chapter three is all about how your online platform can replace your current income.
11:48
SPEAKER_02: And I'd love for you to talk about that a little bit if you can, John.
11:51
SPEAKER_02: But but also can you dispel the myth that this is not possible?
11:55
SPEAKER_02: Because a lot of people listening who maybe are in the beginning stages of this.
11:59
SPEAKER_02: They're they're a writer, they want to build something.
12:02
SPEAKER_02: The thought of replacing their current income with a different business that they create is so foreign and so intimidating that it seems like it's not even possible.
12:11
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and and I'll say it this way uh for some people, it's not possible.
12:16
SPEAKER_00: And the reason it's not possible is because they have no belief whatsoever that it could be possible.
12:20
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
12:21
SPEAKER_00: So they they they won't do it, they won't stick with it.
12:23
SPEAKER_00: They're the type of people that put themselves down constantly.
12:26
SPEAKER_00: And if you're listening to this and you put yourself down constantly and you're always telling yourself the negative side of every possibility, and you're always telling yourself that you just can't do this.
12:35
SPEAKER_00: This is only for other people.
12:37
SPEAKER_00: You are absolutely right.
12:38
SPEAKER_00: You will totally fail at it, you will totally stink at it.
12:41
SPEAKER_00: You shouldn't even try.
12:42
SPEAKER_00: Give up on yourself.
12:43
SPEAKER_00: You know what?
12:44
SPEAKER_00: Stop bathing, stop shaving, stop caring for yourself in any area, just completely give up on yourself.
12:50
SPEAKER_00: That would be my advice for somebody that's gonna talk to themselves like that because they're gonna get the outcome that they tell themselves.
12:57
SPEAKER_00: I, you know, you and I are are people who look at this and we're like, okay, maybe it'll work, maybe it won't work.
13:04
SPEAKER_00: But here's what I know I know that it can work.
13:07
SPEAKER_00: And if it can work for other people, why not me?
13:10
SPEAKER_00: Why can't it work for me?
13:11
SPEAKER_00: It could work for me.
13:12
SPEAKER_00: I'm not some dummy, you know what I mean?
13:14
SPEAKER_00: Like I have something valuable to contribute, you have something valuable to contribute.
13:18
SPEAKER_00: I would assume that most people have something valuable to contribute, but most people are content consumers because of their own insecurities.
13:27
SPEAKER_00: And if you're gonna be a content creator, you're gonna have to get over and get past some of your insecurities or just push through them and put yourself out there and realize you're gonna get feedback.
13:38
SPEAKER_00: People are going to use some of the things you do, some people are gonna not like the things you do, and you're gonna have to soldier on through that for a long period of time, maybe, and maybe in some cases, not even a long period of time, maybe a short period of time.
13:50
SPEAKER_00: But there's gonna be some amount of time involved.
13:53
SPEAKER_00: But if you keep pressing on, before you know it, you're gonna start discovering content you create that's unique to you that people like using, and you're gonna start being able to figure out and maybe even profile a little bit somebody who is your ideal person that you're best positioned to serve.
14:11
SPEAKER_00: And when you get those things in mind, you know, the content people really want from you, and the type of personalities or the type of uh careers or positions or things like that that are utilizing your content, when those things become clear, you're gonna end up narrowing your focus and you're gonna create some targeted content that's gonna get used more and more and more.
14:33
SPEAKER_00: But before you could get to that spot, you just have to start producing something.
14:37
SPEAKER_00: And then your audience, those that use it, are gonna help you refine it by giving you additional feedback.
14:42
SPEAKER_00: And here's the thing um, you know, when I when I started creating this, I had no promise to myself that there was gonna be any guaranteed outcome.
14:51
SPEAKER_00: There was nothing that I thought would be a definite this or definite that.
14:55
SPEAKER_00: I wanted to be able to create valuable content, and then a secondary motivation I had was I'd like to be able to make an income from it.
15:03
SPEAKER_00: And I just tried to be a learner who was consistent in creating content and uh developed multiple streams of income and stuck with them for years and years and years.
15:12
SPEAKER_00: And now at this point, I reap the benefits of it every day.
15:15
SPEAKER_00: I had a I just held a retreat.
15:17
SPEAKER_00: One of the guys at the retreat asked me, he said, Do you ever have a day at this point where you don't make some form of online income?
15:24
SPEAKER_00: And the honest answer is no, there's never a day now.
15:27
SPEAKER_00: And I haven't had an issue with that in years.
15:29
SPEAKER_00: Every day.
15:30
SPEAKER_00: Now, some days are large, some days are small.
15:32
SPEAKER_00: It's a mix.
15:33
SPEAKER_00: I don't know day to day what I'm gonna earn, but there's never a day now, and I could say that literally, never a day where I'm not earning something online.
15:42
SPEAKER_02: Can you talk about what your mainstreams of income are at this point?
15:46
SPEAKER_02: Sure.
15:46
SPEAKER_02: I know that I know there are a lot of them, and and I don't want to get super granular with all this.
15:50
SPEAKER_02: Um, but like just kind of primarily for people who are wondering, okay, how does John actually make money aside from his quote unquote day job?
15:59
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I actually keep it's it's kind of funny.
16:01
SPEAKER_00: I actually keep a uh a note on my phone of income streams, and um, and so here's here's some of the main ones.
16:10
SPEAKER_00: Um, royalties from books.
16:13
SPEAKER_00: So I have uh uh one book that is traditionally published, and then a bunch of books that are uh independently published or self-published.
16:22
SPEAKER_00: Um I earn affiliate commissions, I earn ad revenue.
16:26
SPEAKER_00: Uh, there are ads on my podcast that I earn revenue from that as well.
16:29
SPEAKER_00: So podcast ad revenue.
16:31
SPEAKER_00: Uh I have a job directory, I have a membership community.
16:35
SPEAKER_00: Inside the membership community community, there's multiple streams of income.
16:39
SPEAKER_00: So there's uh membership dues, there are courses that I sell, there's coaching that I offer, and there are also live events that I host.
16:47
SPEAKER_00: Um, I have affiliate commissions from a software company that I receive.
16:51
SPEAKER_00: I also have various forms of crowdfunding.
16:55
SPEAKER_00: And uh, I don't know if I said coaching as like a separate direct thing.
16:58
SPEAKER_00: I think I said it within the membership community, but then there's also general coaching that I offer.
17:03
SPEAKER_00: And then there's a few other things, but those would be the main things.
17:06
SPEAKER_00: And I try not to rely on any one thing.
17:11
SPEAKER_00: Uh, I try and make it so that there is a healthy mix of what's coming in because sometimes certain streams of income are lower.
17:20
SPEAKER_00: And when they're lower, I'm counting on the other ones to pick up the slack.
17:25
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's really good.
17:26
SPEAKER_02: And this is something that's I think it's hard for some people to get their head around because if you have worked a W-2 job for a long time, maybe even your whole life, it's really difficult to think of creating something where money is actually going to flow to you, sometimes passively, like book royalties, where you write it, you put it out there, and money just kind of comes to you on a regular basis.
17:48
SPEAKER_02: But it but I think I'm correct in saying that the average millionaire has something like seven different income streams, if I'm not mistaken.
17:57
SPEAKER_00: That's the stat I've heard too.
17:58
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
17:59
SPEAKER_02: And I I find that really, really interesting because basically this means you you shouldn't rely on any one certain stream of income because it can always be turned off like a faucet for a whole bunch of different reasons.
18:10
SPEAKER_00: Right.
18:10
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I think the combination, uh, there's like three things that that are really um key to me when it comes to like the financial uh element of of all of this.
18:22
SPEAKER_00: One is uh I think it starts with generosity for me.
18:25
SPEAKER_00: So I use money as a tool, it's not something I'm willing to worship, so it's not my primary motivation.
18:31
SPEAKER_00: Uh, it's something that I look at and I say, all right, let me start with generosity.
18:35
SPEAKER_00: So for me as a Christian, I practice tithing.
18:38
SPEAKER_00: My wife and I like to give on, you know, even beyond our tithing.
18:41
SPEAKER_00: I don't say that to boast or brag.
18:42
SPEAKER_00: I say that in in the sense of sharing a mindset or a philosophy that goes behind what we're doing.
18:48
SPEAKER_00: And I think we're supposed to do that first because otherwise we'll turn money into an idol.
18:52
SPEAKER_00: So I it's like the first thing you do when you get money, give it away.
18:56
SPEAKER_00: And then that way you're gonna be less tempted, I think, to turn it into something that you over-rely on.
19:02
SPEAKER_00: Another thing that I think factors into our financial philosophy that it helps us uh immensely is being uh uh resistant toward debt.
19:12
SPEAKER_00: So at this point in my life, I have zero debt.
19:14
SPEAKER_00: I don't owe anyone anything.
19:16
SPEAKER_00: That has only been true of me for the past two and a half years.
19:19
SPEAKER_00: Prior to that, I had a mortgage.
19:21
SPEAKER_00: Prior to that, I had student loans, I had credit card debt, I had all those things.
19:24
SPEAKER_00: And when my desire became to eradicate debt, I worked at it really hard, dedicated any financial resources we had to getting rid of it.
19:33
SPEAKER_00: But once I got rid of it, it allowed other things I was doing to accelerate because I was able to take chances on things because I had expendable income that I wasn't worried that I wasn't going to be able to pay my debts or something like that when I took some of those chances because I had no debt.
19:49
SPEAKER_00: So having no debt, I think is is uh something that that really helps with peace of mind and with uh a willingness to take on risks.
19:57
SPEAKER_00: But then the third thing, which you just brought up, having multiple streams of income.
20:02
SPEAKER_00: One of which, by the way, for both me and my wife is still traditional income because I I'm I continue to serve, you know, as you as you referenced in in my day job.
20:11
SPEAKER_00: I never felt led to get rid of that, mostly because you know, I'm I'm serving in that capacity as a calling.
20:19
SPEAKER_00: And so I felt like it was okay uh to continue serving in that way, even though the other ways are being blessed.
20:26
SPEAKER_00: And I think like all pastors, sometimes I I've gone through seasons where I feel exhausted with it and have have truly been, you know, wrestling with like, okay, like maybe I'm exhausted, maybe maybe I should uh pause from this, but I've never had perfect peace about not having that, you know, that traditional role.
20:44
SPEAKER_00: And my wife serves in a traditional role as well.
20:47
SPEAKER_00: You know, she um she uh works at a local university, and uh, and so we have that in addition to some of these online streams.
20:55
SPEAKER_00: So uh maybe I feel like I'm giving long answers to all your questions, but at the same time, well, that this is truly what's what's undergirding our philosophy on on how we try to handle these things.
21:06
SPEAKER_02: And this really goes into in one of the chapters, and I this this is one of my favorite chapters in your book, where you talk about not disparaging the usefulness of your traditional job while you're building your dream career.
21:19
SPEAKER_02: And I have to confess that there are still some days.
21:23
SPEAKER_02: So I've been doing this full time on my own for a little over two years, and I was a college professor in a pastor before that.
21:30
SPEAKER_02: Right.
21:30
SPEAKER_02: There's there are a lot of days where I miss having someplace to go where there's other people.
21:34
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I'm in an office building and all that, but there are some things about having a traditional day job at a college that I really, really do miss.
21:42
SPEAKER_02: I feel like it's not it, it's kind of like frowned upon in the entrepreneur world to kind of admit that.
21:47
SPEAKER_02: But I I think there's a lot of value to having a day job somewhere that's a good foundation for your income, especially as you're building something where you're committed to that place.
22:00
SPEAKER_02: And it's, you know, you can make a decent uh day job income, but it gives you foundation to build on things from there instead of just leaping into the unknown and hoping things work out for the best.
22:12
SPEAKER_00: Right.
22:12
SPEAKER_00: I I've always thought it was silly.
22:14
SPEAKER_00: And I've I've seen people do this, plenty of people do this, uh, but I've always thought it was silly to disparage traditional sources of income uh in this entrepreneurial space.
22:24
SPEAKER_00: I I think like, why?
22:25
SPEAKER_00: Why would you do that?
22:26
SPEAKER_00: For most people, that's going to enable them to work on their dream without stressing their family or their marriage or or any of those things.
22:36
SPEAKER_00: It provides a very predictable, stable pathway for you to have that financial foundation so you could work on the dream stuff, and then you work on the on your dreams.
22:47
SPEAKER_00: And then when they get to a spot where they allow you to step out of your traditional role, you can decide do I want to keep the traditional role because I like the social interaction or it connects with my sense of calling?
23:00
SPEAKER_00: Or is it time for me to step out of that so that I could focus on these other things?
23:04
SPEAKER_00: And I think I think a lot of entrepreneurs live in the tension of that, but I always considered it somewhat of an ignorant or an unaware or a narrow-minded statement.
23:14
SPEAKER_00: Whenever I hear people disparage someone uh using a traditional source of income to help fund their dream or provide stability for their family.
23:23
SPEAKER_00: To me, that seems ridiculous.
23:25
SPEAKER_00: It actually seems immature.
23:27
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I totally agree.
23:29
SPEAKER_02: And people are at different stages in their life and they want different things.
23:32
SPEAKER_02: Some people are more adventurous and they want to take more risk in their jobs or their careers.
23:37
SPEAKER_02: Other people don't want to do that.
23:40
SPEAKER_02: So I think it's good to just recognize we're all kind of wired differently.
23:43
SPEAKER_02: And it also depends on your stage of life as well.
23:46
SPEAKER_02: If you have a bunch of younger kids at home, that's different than let's say uh a single person or a person whose kids aren't at home or you know, whatever the situation might be.
23:57
SPEAKER_02: So yeah, I totally agree with you and love that.
24:01
SPEAKER_02: Hey, I want to take a quick break and give a shout out to today's sponsor, Vellum.
24:06
SPEAKER_02: You know, for several years, my go-to choice for book formatting software has been Vellum.
24:11
SPEAKER_02: Vellum gives you the power to build, style, and preview your book and have a blast while doing it.
24:17
SPEAKER_02: Vellum is the go-to choice, in fact, for Mac users who care about creating beautiful ebooks and print books, and it helps you save a lot of time in the process.
24:27
SPEAKER_02: I use Vellum pretty much every week for something or another, whether it's my own stuff or whether it's client books, or sometimes just throwing something in Vellum and for a friend, and I can give them a sense of, hey, here's how your book can eventually look when you have it professionally formatted.
24:43
SPEAKER_02: Vellum is such a versatile and wonderful tool, I really can't imagine trying to run my business without it.
24:49
SPEAKER_02: And this is why I not not just use, but I recommend Vellum as a tool that every writer who is a Mac user needs to have.
24:57
SPEAKER_02: Now, one of the cool things that I love about Vellum is that you can download it and you can play with your book's formatting to your heart's content, and you only have to purchase it whenever you're ready to actually publish your book and generate those files for ebook and print.
25:11
SPEAKER_02: And when you do that, Vellum creates ebooks for every platform out there.
25:16
SPEAKER_02: So don't delay if you're looking for a great solution for formatting your books and your Mac user, Vellum is absolutely the way to go.
25:23
SPEAKER_02: To download Vellum for free, go to trivellum.com slash daily.
25:28
SPEAKER_02: That's trivellum.com slash daily.
25:31
SPEAKER_02: All right, my friend, back to the conversation with the amazing John Stangy.
25:35
SPEAKER_02: One thing I want to dive into here, and I I love that you mentioned this um in your book because not not only do you practice this actually yourself, but um I've not heard a lot of other people talk about this.
25:47
SPEAKER_02: And this is reasons why you should write a short book.
25:52
SPEAKER_02: And I am so on board with this.
25:55
SPEAKER_02: I love this concept, but I hardly hear anybody talking about it, which blows my mind because it's uh to me such an obvious thing to lean toward.
26:04
SPEAKER_02: But wondering if you can talk about this.
26:06
SPEAKER_02: Why should people write short books instead of longer books?
26:10
SPEAKER_00: I probably do what most people are doing as far as my reading habits.
26:15
SPEAKER_00: Uh, most entrepreneurs, when you're looking to read something, you're usually usually searching for a nonfiction book that helps you solve a problem.
26:23
SPEAKER_00: Right.
26:24
SPEAKER_00: And I genuinely appreciate when I read a book that doesn't waste my time.
26:29
SPEAKER_00: If I'm looking to solve a problem, if I'm not just reading for my sheer entertainment and I want to get lost in like some sort of fiction universe, if I'm reading a nonfiction book because I'm looking to solve a problem, I appreciate good counsel that doesn't waste my time.
26:45
SPEAKER_00: And so those are the books I typically buy.
26:48
SPEAKER_00: They're typically inexpensive books that I'll buy uh on Kindle.
26:52
SPEAKER_00: Those tend to be like the ebooks that I tend to read, you know, just something short, something brief, usually like$2.99, you know, or sometimes 99 cents, or even sometimes they're more than that.
27:02
SPEAKER_00: But the the point being, you know, they they accomplish their set purpose.
27:05
SPEAKER_00: And I look at that and I see a lot of these books have a lot of reviews.
27:09
SPEAKER_00: They help, you know, people uh find them very helpful.
27:12
SPEAKER_00: They have really good sales.
27:14
SPEAKER_00: Amazon pays a decent royalty rate.
27:16
SPEAKER_00: And I look at that and I think from an author's standpoint, you could crank out a bunch of those, you know, books that are under a hundred pages that you're you're getting out there relatively quickly, certainly quicker than than some of the other options, certainly quicker than a 250 or 300 page book.
27:32
SPEAKER_00: That uh sometimes, if we're honest, a lot of those books are just uh they could be much shorter, but because they're trying to hit a certain page count, they make themselves intentionally longer.
27:42
SPEAKER_02: I publishers like we we both have been been in that world.
27:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
27:45
SPEAKER_00: And I I look at that, I'm like, some of these books could have been way shorter.
27:48
SPEAKER_00: They don't need so much of this filler.
27:50
SPEAKER_00: And so I have discovered that some of my most profitable books have been shorter books that solve a specific problem and they get good feedback and I sell them really, really cheaply, but then they end up selling a decent amount of copies in volume.
28:06
SPEAKER_00: And uh, and I look at that and I think that's a missed opportunity for many people.
28:09
SPEAKER_00: And a lot of people spend their entire lives daydreaming about getting out some sort of massive book.
28:16
SPEAKER_00: But the reading habits of most people right now, they just appreciate a quick read, just something short.
28:21
SPEAKER_00: And um, and you know, especially like people that are entrepreneurial problem solvers that just want, you know, like a quick word of counsel that helps them solve something.
28:31
SPEAKER_00: The book that I just released a few weeks ago, I released a book called The Podcaster's Playbook.
28:36
SPEAKER_00: It's an intentionally quick read.
28:39
SPEAKER_00: And it's meant to help people understand how to get downloads, how to earn an income, and how to have a sense of mission when it comes to what they do behind a microphone.
28:48
SPEAKER_00: It and it's just a quick book that somebody could sit down and read, probably in a couple hours.
28:54
SPEAKER_00: You know, I wanted it initially when I was trying to put it together, wanted it to be like a one-hour read, but then it it I ended up adding some additional content, not for filler, but because I thought it would be helpful.
29:05
SPEAKER_00: And so I would say it's maybe a two-hour read, but it's not a two-day read.
29:09
SPEAKER_00: And it's something that'll help people, I believe, succeed with that specific task of podcasting.
29:14
SPEAKER_00: And so I think more authors should consider giving themselves a break from thinking that they have to create a massive book and start writing some shorter nonfiction books that solve specific problems.
29:26
SPEAKER_00: I think that they would probably enjoy doing it.
29:29
SPEAKER_02: Now, when you say short, how do you define short?
29:32
SPEAKER_02: Is it a certain uh I assume a certain word count length, like 5,000 words, 10, 15,000 words?
29:38
SPEAKER_02: How do you define that?
29:40
SPEAKER_00: That's a bit of an arbitrary thing, right?
29:43
SPEAKER_00: So I think in my mind, when I think of a short book, I'm thinking something that's under a hundred pages, and I'm thinking of it also in the amount of time it takes to read.
29:52
SPEAKER_00: So I'm thinking like a one to two hour read.
29:55
SPEAKER_02: Okay, that's good.
29:57
SPEAKER_02: So word count would be maybe like under 20,000 words, something like that.
30:03
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, maybe something like that.
30:05
SPEAKER_02: 20,000 words, something like that.
30:06
SPEAKER_02: But you also have some books out there that are that are as short as 5,000 words, correct?
30:10
SPEAKER_02: I do.
30:11
SPEAKER_02: I have a few that are out there like that.
30:12
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
30:12
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
30:14
SPEAKER_02: So for for people who let's say okay, so you've now just kind of released them from the pressure of of you know having to put out this big gargantuan book that they've been dreaming about for 10 years and and stressing about.
30:27
SPEAKER_02: Let's say they want to do short books and they want to do a lot of them.
30:32
SPEAKER_02: How do you think about because people have all kinds of different ways of self-publishing, all kinds of different methods and ways of thinking about it.
30:39
SPEAKER_02: So I'm curious what your philosophy is and your method for thinking about things like cover design, formatting, editing, those kinds of things.
30:47
SPEAKER_02: Because even when you're self-publishing, those can be really, really expensive.
30:51
SPEAKER_02: And you can invest five, 10, probably even up to 15 grand in one self-published book if you kind of have all the premium contractors who are working on different things.
31:02
SPEAKER_02: How do you think about that process?
31:03
SPEAKER_02: You put out a lot of books.
31:04
SPEAKER_02: What is your process for doing that while not spending tons and tons of money?
31:11
SPEAKER_00: So not everybody likes formatting books, and not everybody likes creating covers.
31:17
SPEAKER_00: Uh, I don't mind either of those things, and uh especially since there are tools that make it super, super easy to do it.
31:24
SPEAKER_00: So I use a software called Vellum.
31:26
SPEAKER_00: I spent$249 for the software and it formats books so easily and so perfectly.
31:33
SPEAKER_00: You just upload a Word doc to it and it turns it into a book, and it has simple little commands that you can, you know, and options you can insert to help create the front matter for the book or the about the author section in the back.
31:45
SPEAKER_00: You can you you can just decide how you want the book to look and it'll format it for you.
31:49
SPEAKER_00: And you just go through the chapters and make sure they look how they're supposed to look.
31:53
SPEAKER_00: And 99% of the time they do.
31:55
SPEAKER_00: And if you notice something that doesn't look exactly like you want, you just make a little tweak to it.
31:59
SPEAKER_00: But other than that, you know, Vellum, 249 bucks.
32:02
SPEAKER_00: I use that software, it works with my Mac.
32:05
SPEAKER_00: Um, it it works great.
32:07
SPEAKER_00: I love it.
32:08
SPEAKER_00: Um, as far as cover design, I use two tools.
32:11
SPEAKER_00: So Amazon has its own cover creator built in uh to KDP.
32:16
SPEAKER_00: So if you're you know, if you're gonna you know upload things into Amazon, you do have that option, but I don't like their cover creator exclusively.
32:24
SPEAKER_00: I use it as like a backup tool.
32:26
SPEAKER_00: What I do is I create the front cover on Canva.
32:29
SPEAKER_00: They have a whole bunch of templates that you can utilize.
32:32
SPEAKER_00: Uh to you could either start as a blank template and just make it look however you want if you have that kind of eye, or you could use one of their templates and just change the wording on it and then just download that and then combine that with Amazon's cover creator, and you'll you'll have a nice front image from Canva.
32:49
SPEAKER_00: And then Amazon's cover creator helps you create the spine of the book and helps you create what's on the back.
32:55
SPEAKER_00: And typically the spine and the back are just words on a blank color.
33:00
SPEAKER_00: And so it's it's really easy to do.
33:03
SPEAKER_00: So I don't spend any money other than I do pay 110 bucks a year for Canva premium, but you could even do this with the the free Canva version.
33:12
SPEAKER_00: Um, so essentially I'm not really spending any money at this point now to create the to do the formatting or to do the the covers.
33:20
SPEAKER_00: I'm just using vellum and canva.
33:23
SPEAKER_02: Now, what about editing?
33:24
SPEAKER_02: Are you using some kind of tools or outsourcing that?
33:27
SPEAKER_02: Or how do you typically go about your editing process?
33:30
SPEAKER_00: So my editing it starts with me going through my content more than once, and I do tend to catch things, and I use grammarly to catch typos and and stuff like that.
33:41
SPEAKER_00: And it's just a free Chrome extension.
33:43
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then so it goes me, then grammarly, and then my wife typically reads through it as well.
33:50
SPEAKER_00: And um, and then that's it.
33:51
SPEAKER_00: That's what we do, and then I put it out there, and then I also listen for feedback if e if any of those three, so it's gone through three things by the time it's released, but sometimes we miss stuff.
34:03
SPEAKER_00: And so recently I released a book a couple months ago called Walking in Wisdom.
34:08
SPEAKER_00: And it's like an exposition basically of the book of Proverbs.
34:12
SPEAKER_00: And uh, when I released that, uh self-published, it went through those systems, and uh, someone that I'm friends with read through it and he noticed like six or seven typos in the book.
34:24
SPEAKER_00: Now, I was impressed that there were only six or seven typos of the book, um, considering that I didn't hire a professional editor for it.
34:30
SPEAKER_00: And uh, and I went back and because it's a self-published book, I was able to fix all of those things in 15 minutes.
34:36
SPEAKER_00: So I fixed them all and I added a thank you to him in the back of the book for uh, you know, just for taking the time to read through it and notice that stuff.
34:45
SPEAKER_00: And he was really happy that I acknowledged his name in the book, and I was really happy that he took the time to find those things.
34:51
SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, it the nice thing about this self-publishing world is if you ever find an error after the fact, just go back and fix it.
34:59
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and then Amazon makes it so easy.
35:02
SPEAKER_02: You just get in there and boop, boop, boop, boop, and then it's done.
35:04
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it doesn't actually make that robot noise, but it should, but it should, wouldn't that be cool?
35:10
SPEAKER_00: Everything should sound like it was made in the 80s.
35:12
SPEAKER_00: That's my I think so.
35:13
SPEAKER_00: I'd be fine with that.
35:14
SPEAKER_00: I want to live in the 80s every day.
35:16
SPEAKER_02: I do too.
35:17
SPEAKER_02: There's this uh lady on Instagram, I can't remember her username, something like uh 80s Denise or Denise 80s or something like that.
35:25
SPEAKER_02: All her posts are 80s stuff, and every time she puts stuff up, I'm like, Yep, live that, lived that, had that, listen to it.
35:31
SPEAKER_00: Take me back.
35:32
SPEAKER_00: It's take me back to the good old days before I didn't know we didn't know how good we had it, but oh gosh, I had no idea.
35:39
SPEAKER_02: Of course, back in the 80s, I grew up in a small town and we didn't have Chick-fil-A, so you know now I've got Chick-fil-A, so I so some things are better, we'll acknowledge some things are better, yeah.
35:49
SPEAKER_00: That's for sure.
35:50
SPEAKER_02: No Panda Express back in the at least, not for me.
35:53
SPEAKER_00: Right.
35:53
SPEAKER_00: No, me neither.
35:54
SPEAKER_02: No fast we had KFC, that's all that we had.
35:57
SPEAKER_00: We had one fast food joint in my town.
35:59
SPEAKER_00: It was a Burger King.
36:00
SPEAKER_00: It was the only thing that's the only fast food we had, and it didn't come until I was like 10 or 11.
36:06
SPEAKER_01: You're like, oh man.
36:07
SPEAKER_00: Like they finally built a Burger King.
36:09
SPEAKER_00: We had zero fast food, and then we went to one fast food item.
36:13
SPEAKER_02: Let me dive into for a couple seconds, chapter 36 in your book, which is all about combining the power of your marketing arms and your lead magnet.
36:22
SPEAKER_02: So when we talk about lead magnets, or in other words, a free download that you give in exchange for people's email address.
36:28
SPEAKER_02: A lot of authors can stress out about this because they don't know what to use for a lead magnet.
36:34
SPEAKER_02: Any thoughts on what works well, what doesn't work well, or some other thoughts about how to use a free download or a lead magnet to generate those email subscribers?
36:44
SPEAKER_00: I have the same philosophy on lead magnets that I have on streams of income.
36:48
SPEAKER_00: Have a bunch of different kinds and have them peppered all throughout your stuff.
36:53
SPEAKER_00: Because sometimes things work for a little while and sometimes they don't.
36:57
SPEAKER_00: So typically, the advice that I would give somebody is look at something that you already have that someone might find useful that you don't feel too bad about giving it away for free.
37:07
SPEAKER_00: So if you have a free book you want to give away, give it away.
37:10
SPEAKER_00: Someone might find that valuable.
37:11
SPEAKER_00: I actually think that people would find audio and video content super valuable too, as a lead magnet, because those are things you can quickly consume.
37:20
SPEAKER_00: And most of the time, when it comes to a lead magnet, you're talking about something that could be consumed and utilized rather quickly.
37:26
SPEAKER_00: So books aren't always the best lead magnets, even though I use them.
37:30
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes they're okay.
37:32
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes they convey value, but a lot of times people are looking for something that would be kind of fun and interesting to consume right away.
37:39
SPEAKER_00: But I'd encourage you to have lead magnets that are videos, lead magnets that are audio, lead magnets that are something quick to read, uh, or or you know, even something as much as a full book that you're willing to give away.
37:52
SPEAKER_00: Try all sorts of stuff.
37:53
SPEAKER_00: Don't stress out about it.
37:54
SPEAKER_00: Don't even try to have the perfect lead magnet.
37:56
SPEAKER_00: Try a bunch of different things, see what you like creating and see what you like doing, and um, and then you know, double down on what seems to be getting the most utilization from your audience.
38:08
SPEAKER_02: So let's say if you are if you have somebody who has a podcast and they're promoting their lead magnet on their podcast, should you feel bad about you're promoting something right now?
38:18
SPEAKER_02: And then let's say in eight months you're switching it up and now you're promoting a different lead magnet.
38:22
SPEAKER_02: What if somebody goes back and listens to those old episodes and then they're like, oh, well, I can't find that anymore?
38:27
SPEAKER_02: Like, should should people feel bad about that kind of thing?
38:30
SPEAKER_00: No, I don't think they should feel bad at all.
38:32
SPEAKER_00: And one of the things I've had happen, I've had people contact me about old lead magnets that I used to make available.
38:39
SPEAKER_00: And uh, and I reply to emails.
38:41
SPEAKER_00: I tried my best, unless sometimes people send me crazy things, so I don't always reply to them.
38:46
SPEAKER_00: But as a pastor, you yeah, non-crazy emails that I receive.
38:51
SPEAKER_00: I I make a point.
38:52
SPEAKER_00: It's funny you haven't replied to buy it.
38:55
SPEAKER_00: No, I know.
38:56
SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, it's like, why did how come you're not getting back to me?
38:59
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
39:00
SPEAKER_00: Uh well, I have some bad news for you.
39:02
SPEAKER_00: The uh uh but what I'll do is I'll just send them that old lead magnet, just as a courtesy.
39:08
SPEAKER_00: I think that it's it's a way that you could show that you value the fact that someone would even take the time to listen to your stuff or or read your stuff and reach out.
39:16
SPEAKER_00: I I want you know anyone that would choose to be part of my audience to know that I genuinely value the fact that they're that they're there.
39:23
SPEAKER_00: And so if I have something that would be useful to them, happy to share it.
39:27
SPEAKER_02: So, of course, you know, we were chatting about this a couple days ago.
39:29
SPEAKER_02: I just switched to Kajabi for my daily writer uh membership club and all that stuff.
39:35
SPEAKER_02: And I'm I'll be switching my whole website over to that actually.
39:38
SPEAKER_02: And you just gave me the idea of instead of maybe doing my current lead magnet, which is the daily rider starter kit, it's basically seven guides on writing, which I think is probably overkill, to be honest with you.
39:48
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
39:49
SPEAKER_02: With Kajabi, I'm assuming that that makes it really easy to do like a free mini course as a lead magnet.
39:56
SPEAKER_02: You can just give people free access to it.
39:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
40:01
SPEAKER_02: I think I'm gonna go that direction.
40:02
SPEAKER_02: Thanks for the idea.
40:03
SPEAKER_00: Okay, well, I and Kajabi is an awesome tool to help facilitate that.
40:08
SPEAKER_00: It's it's really, really good.
40:10
SPEAKER_02: Now, one of the things that that you I've heard you talk about this in multiple settings, John, and you talk about this in the book as well, is this idea of a content waterfall.
40:19
SPEAKER_02: So you've got a chapter in your book on taking one piece of weekly content and using it to build a whole online platform.
40:26
SPEAKER_02: Can you walk us through what that is exactly and how how do you actually build a whole platform around one singular piece of content a week?
40:33
SPEAKER_00: Sure.
40:34
SPEAKER_00: I'll I'll use the example of what I do for platform launchers.
40:36
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but I do this with with my my uh faith-based platform as well.
40:41
SPEAKER_00: Basically, a lot of times people get really stressed when you say, hey, if you're gonna build a platform, it might be a good idea to uh have some written content, some audio, some video, uh, some marketing, et cetera, et cetera.
40:54
SPEAKER_00: They're like, I can't do all that stuff.
40:55
SPEAKER_00: And it's like, okay, it does sound like a lot, but what if I said you only had to do one thing and you get to use that one thing multiple ways?
41:02
SPEAKER_00: That doesn't sound so stressful, probably for most people.
41:06
SPEAKER_00: So I always encourage people, you know, that I mean, you could do this any way you want, but for me, it always starts with one piece of written content.
41:13
SPEAKER_00: So for platform launchers, I write a blog post each week.
41:17
SPEAKER_00: And uh that blog post is going to be the basis for everything else I'm doing that week, or most everything else I'm doing that week in platform launchers.
41:25
SPEAKER_00: So um, you know, the the content that I'm gonna be talking about with the group this week is how to utilize feedback that you receive to refine what you offer.
41:35
SPEAKER_00: So that starts with writing a blog post about utilizing feedback.
41:39
SPEAKER_00: And then when I have my live teaching in front of our group, uh that's what I'll I'll use, I'll use the blog post I've created as my teaching notes.
41:47
SPEAKER_00: And I'll I'll teach on that and have a discussion with that with the group.
41:51
SPEAKER_00: And then that teaching time that was based on the blog post becomes a podcast episode.
41:57
SPEAKER_00: So at this point now it's blog or yeah, blog post, live teaching podcast.
42:03
SPEAKER_00: It also becomes a YouTube video.
42:05
SPEAKER_00: That's fourth thing.
42:06
SPEAKER_00: Fifth thing, it becomes a video inside the training vault in platform launchers.
42:11
SPEAKER_00: And then it also becomes a sixth thing, it becomes a newsletter where I take the first couple paragraphs of that blog post and I send it out to my email list.
42:20
SPEAKER_00: And then uh I'll have a note where or a link where they could click to read more if they want to go back to the website.
42:27
SPEAKER_00: And then a seventh thing it can become if I think it would be useful in a book chapter at a future time, I might use that blog post as a book chapter or part of a book chapter.
42:38
SPEAKER_00: So that's seven things, but it's really just one thing.
42:41
SPEAKER_00: It's just one thing used seven ways.
42:44
SPEAKER_02: Then what do you do in the weeks?
42:45
SPEAKER_02: Uh, and I should know the answer to this since I'm actually in platform launchers, but I don't.
42:50
SPEAKER_02: Um on the weeks where you have a guest in platform launchers, are you still writing a blog post and going through the other steps of that process?
42:58
SPEAKER_02: It's just you happen to have a guest, so the call that week is not you teaching, it's just somebody else.
43:05
SPEAKER_00: So sometimes what I'll do is I'll have a guest post for my blog that I'll use from one of the members in the community.
43:12
SPEAKER_00: That's good.
43:13
SPEAKER_00: And I'll insert it, you know, on a guest expert week.
43:16
SPEAKER_00: And um, and and that's kind of you know a way that I've I've used my platform to help promote the platforms of members in the community.
43:24
SPEAKER_00: That's cool.
43:25
SPEAKER_00: And um, and so I I feel like that's a useful thing, but it's also it's not a crime if for some reason you take a week off.
43:33
SPEAKER_00: It's not a crime.
43:34
SPEAKER_00: I don't take very many weeks off, you know, uh, but like if you took off one, it's not gonna, it's not gonna tank your platform.
43:41
SPEAKER_00: The problem is when people uh, you know, when it's more it's when it's rarer for them to have a week on than a week off.
43:50
SPEAKER_00: You know, I see some people that are like, oh, maybe I'll write a blog post this month.
43:53
SPEAKER_00: Well, guess what?
43:54
SPEAKER_00: Your platform's not gonna gain any traction.
43:56
SPEAKER_00: Maybe produce content this month.
43:58
SPEAKER_00: If it's a rarer That you take a week off from your blog, you know, that's not going to be a big deal.
44:04
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that is that is so true.
44:06
SPEAKER_02: I think it's interesting that you so basically the calls in platform launchers, you're actually giving those calls away for free.
44:12
SPEAKER_02: So people can hear all the content you're doing in platform launchers.
44:15
SPEAKER_02: So as far as people joining platform launchers as a community, the real value, it would seem, is in the community itself, not necessarily just in the content, correct?
44:26
SPEAKER_00: Right.
44:27
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I always tell people the value of being in platform launchers is threefold.
44:32
SPEAKER_00: Information, and a lot of people join for information.
44:34
SPEAKER_00: You know, they want to learn how to build, grow, and monetize an online platform.
44:38
SPEAKER_00: That's a very logical reason to join something for that info.
44:41
SPEAKER_00: But then the two things that that uh people don't always realize they're going to get when they join there's the inspiration and the accountability.
44:50
SPEAKER_00: So there's information, inspiration, and accountability.
44:53
SPEAKER_00: You join a lot of people join for the information, then they discover that they have the privilege to work side by side with other people developing online platforms and they get to hear their wins and hear their ideas and the things that we have and just the private QA times that we have with the group or the lunch and learns that we have with the group, things like that that aren't public, that are only given to members.
45:15
SPEAKER_00: And that inspires ideas for other people.
45:17
SPEAKER_00: And then you have the accountability of people that you're you're cooperating with and learning with that are gonna follow up with you and say, Hey, you said you're gonna release your first podcast episode this week.
45:28
SPEAKER_00: Did you get it out?
45:30
SPEAKER_00: And uh, and so the information, inspiration, and accountability, those things all work together.
45:35
SPEAKER_00: The information, I love giving away a lot of information for free, but inspiration and accountability are things that really are best experienced in the context of a group.
45:46
SPEAKER_00: And so that's the added benefit that the members receive.
45:50
SPEAKER_00: And what we've noticed is that people that only use the information go slower.
45:54
SPEAKER_00: The people that actually utilize the inspiration and the accountability get a lot more done, they get it done faster, and it also tends to be better because they're receiving feedback from other people.
46:06
SPEAKER_02: Is that also how you see the value of live events?
46:09
SPEAKER_02: So you just did a retreat last week.
46:11
SPEAKER_02: I did a retreat earlier earlier this month for uh the Daily Writer Club.
46:15
SPEAKER_02: Um, do you see the value of live events as it's not really about the information?
46:20
SPEAKER_02: I mean, that's a part of it, but you know, with a live event, people have to spend money, they have to travel.
46:25
SPEAKER_02: It's like a life interruption kind of a deal.
46:28
SPEAKER_02: So they've invested something into this, but the the depth of relationships and of life change that can happen in a live setting is can be really, really significant.
46:39
SPEAKER_02: And therefore it's really, really valuable.
46:41
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, definitely.
46:42
SPEAKER_00: There, there's two things that I think that live events can supply.
46:46
SPEAKER_00: One is, you know, uh relationships.
46:48
SPEAKER_00: Well, really, there's three things.
46:50
SPEAKER_00: There might be information, right?
46:51
SPEAKER_00: So I I try to use the time as like a teaching time.
46:54
SPEAKER_00: So there is information, uh, but then there's also the relationships.
46:57
SPEAKER_00: But then the third thing that really seems to be the secret, uh, the secret sauce to a live event is the fact that you are removing your typical day-to-day responsibilities and distractions.
47:08
SPEAKER_00: Right.
47:09
SPEAKER_00: And you seem to get, I know I do, uh, I get I get more clarity on what I need to do next, what my next steps happen to be, and what I can eliminate from my day-to-day life when I go to a live event that takes me out of my day-to-day responsibilities.
47:25
SPEAKER_00: And I could just spend, you know, a couple of days or a week focusing on the specific thing that I'm trying to build.
47:32
SPEAKER_00: I get so much clarity because I've removed distractions.
47:36
SPEAKER_00: So for me, that's probably I would say that's the main benefit that I get from personally attending live events.
47:44
SPEAKER_00: I get to I get that focused, non-distraction time that helps me refine what I'm doing.
47:50
SPEAKER_00: And I come back with like a mission to make what I'm doing better.
47:54
SPEAKER_00: But I've had that time to build the clarity that I need to actually know what I need.
47:58
SPEAKER_02: That's cool.
48:00
SPEAKER_02: I'm glad to hear your thoughts on that because as a person who runs a community like you do, I have I have just kind of wrestled with okay, the value of live events versus other kinds of things in your business, which is that's a whole nother topic for another day, I'm sure.
48:15
SPEAKER_02: Because there's a lot of things that can go into live events and you can make them very simple or very complex and expensive or cheap or whatever.
48:22
SPEAKER_02: Um, but there is no doubt at all that live events can be really, really life-changing for people.
48:27
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, without a doubt.
48:29
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
48:30
SPEAKER_02: So, John, where can people learn more about platform launchers, your books, your podcasts, all the 872 things that you're doing?
48:38
SPEAKER_02: It's not actually that many, it's more like 871.
48:40
SPEAKER_02: I know.
48:41
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's true.
48:41
SPEAKER_00: Don't exaggerate.
48:44
SPEAKER_00: The bet the easiest place would be just to head over to platformlaunchers.com.
48:49
SPEAKER_00: And at platformlaunchers.com, people will find a variety of things.
48:53
SPEAKER_00: They could find out information about our community for sure.
48:55
SPEAKER_00: They could also find out some of the courses that I have that are there that'll help them figure out, you know, how how to build, grow, and monetize an online platform, how to turn their platform into something that earns them at least$250 a day.
49:07
SPEAKER_00: I have a ton of stuff over there related to that.
49:10
SPEAKER_00: But I also have something that if people just want to download it for free, I have a 21-day platform development planning guide.
49:18
SPEAKER_00: And if people are looking to just kind of get some clarity and figure out what, you know, what it would look like to actually build an online platform, they'll see it right at platformlaunchers.com.
49:29
SPEAKER_00: That planning guide is front and center.
49:30
SPEAKER_00: You just scroll down a little bit on the homepage and you'll be able to download that for free.
49:34
SPEAKER_00: And hopefully it'll help you refine your idea and build an online platform around it.
49:40
SPEAKER_02: I love that.
49:41
SPEAKER_02: I'm actually on your homepage right now, and uh that's really, really cool.
49:45
SPEAKER_02: I love that.
49:46
SPEAKER_02: Has that just kind of getting granular?
49:48
SPEAKER_02: Has that converted pretty well?
49:49
SPEAKER_02: And people have really, really liked that because it seems like a pretty darn cool lead magnet.
49:54
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it it has.
49:55
SPEAKER_00: And and it's kind of interesting.
49:56
SPEAKER_00: You know, I I put that out there and I share it for free, but it's also a resource that I created that I want our members to use because I know that sometimes it's just helpful to have something where you could just write down notes in a guided way.
50:09
SPEAKER_00: And um, I realized that, you know, I had a course uh that goes through many of these concepts in depth, but I felt like I needed something where people could just like have a guide to walk them through some of those details.
50:23
SPEAKER_00: And I put it together and then I thought, you know, I'm just gonna give this thing away for free.
50:26
SPEAKER_00: And uh, for the past few months, I've had it right there on the website.
50:29
SPEAKER_00: And I I got, especially the the week that I released it, I got a ton of good feedback on it.
50:35
SPEAKER_00: People said that it saved them a lot of time.
50:36
SPEAKER_00: So if people want it for free, the the platform development planning guide, right at platformlaunchers.com.
50:42
SPEAKER_00: Happy to share it.
50:43
SPEAKER_00: I've I've had it up there for several months, and I plan on keeping it up there for a little while as well.
50:47
SPEAKER_02: Awesome.
50:48
SPEAKER_02: Well, John, thank you so much.
50:49
SPEAKER_02: I appreciate your knowledge and your wisdom and your friendship.
50:52
SPEAKER_02: And um appreciate the chance to learn from you today.
50:55
SPEAKER_02: This has been fantastic.
50:56
SPEAKER_02: Thanks again.
50:57
SPEAKER_00: Well, I always appreciate the chance to be on uh the Daily Writer with Kent Sanders, who is one of my favorite authors.
51:04
SPEAKER_00: So, Kent, thank you so much for giving me the privilege to be here.
51:07
SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
51:08
SPEAKER_02: It's been totally my honor.
51:10
SPEAKER_02: Hey, I hope you enjoyed that conversation.
51:11
SPEAKER_02: As you can tell, John is a fount of knowledge and of wisdom when it comes to building, growing, and monetizing your online platform.
51:20
SPEAKER_02: Again, I want to encourage you to not just grab John's brand new book, but I also encourage you to check out Platform Launchers.
51:26
SPEAKER_02: It is truly a really fantastic group.
51:29
SPEAKER_02: How do I know?
51:30
SPEAKER_02: Because I have personally been a part of platform launchers for the last couple of years.
51:34
SPEAKER_02: John is one of those rare people who is a pastor, but also who thinks in a very entrepreneurial way.
51:42
SPEAKER_02: He's also an extremely prolific podcaster and author.
51:45
SPEAKER_02: So there's a lot that you can learn from John.
51:48
SPEAKER_02: I've really enjoyed spending some time with John, not just here in this conversation, but just personally being on his show as well and getting to know him over the last few years.
51:56
SPEAKER_02: And John and I are also, this is really fun.
51:59
SPEAKER_02: We're both a part of Honore Corter's Empire Builders Mastermind.
52:02
SPEAKER_02: It's been really fun to get to know John even more over the past few months in that context as well.
52:08
SPEAKER_02: In fact, as of this recording, uh a couple weeks ago, we spent a few days together in Nashville, Tennessee.
52:14
SPEAKER_02: Really it was Franklin, Tennessee, but I always say Nashville, because that's everybody knows where Nashville is.
52:20
SPEAKER_02: Uh we got to spend a few days together for Honore Quarter's Empire Builders Mastermind, and that was a lot of fun as well.
52:24
SPEAKER_02: John is a super great guy, and I hope that you grab his book and check out Platform Launchers.
52:29
SPEAKER_02: I promise you will not be disappointed.
52:30
SPEAKER_02: You learn a lot from him, and I think you're really, really gonna enjoy it.
52:34
SPEAKER_02: It's gonna help to elevate your writing business.
52:36
SPEAKER_02: And that's something that we all want to do.
52:37
SPEAKER_02: So make sure and check it out.
52:39
SPEAKER_02: And as always, thanks for listening, and I'll see you next time.